[Daboll, Nathan]:

$275 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

BICKERSTAFF'S IMPROVED ALMANACK, FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD, 1785.... This Bickerstaff almanac is attributed to Benjamin West of Providence by Evans, but is more likely the work of Connecticut textbook author and mathematician Nathan Daboll, whose 1785 Freebetter almanac features identical calculations to this one. The usual astronomical notes and calendars are followed by a series of "Merry Jests," including a two-page story about a cobbler's wife and chimney sweep's devilish scheme to improve her husband's behavior. The last page also contains a brief advertisement for stationery and other titles to be sold by John Trumbull of Norwich. The contemporary manuscript signature of one Enoch Peirce, originally from Massachusetts but living in Connecticut by the 1750s, is present in the margins of the second and third pages. Occasional other marginal notes are evident, but are mostly trimmed.

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